A Brief Analysis of American Slang and American Culture.doc

美国俚语和美国文化a brief analysis of american slang and american culturecontentsabstract.1key words.1i. introduction.2ii. definitions of slang and culture.21. different definitions of slang.22. different definitions of culture.3iii. the relationship between slang and culture.41. language and culture.42. slang and culture.5iv. the origins of slang.51. literary masterpieces.62. the bible.63. greek and roman mythologies .64. ancient fables75. historic affairs76. anecdotes77. customs78. the animals habitual behaviors89. seafaring810. agriculture811. daily life9v. the usage of slang.91. setting.92. medium9vi. american slang and subculture groups .101. teenager group102. beat generation113. political group.114. homosexual and drug addiction group.125. criminal group 12vii. reasons for using slang.13viii. conclusion.14references14abstract: language is a symbol of a nations culture to a certain degree. on the other hand, language influences culture a lot. from a dynamic view, language and culture interact with each other and shape each other. language is the carrier of culture which in turn is the content of language. we can dig out cultural features from language and explain language phenomena with culture. learning a foreign language, in fact, is inseparable from learning its culture. american english is rich in words that are humorous, vivid and homonymous, which are so-called slang. such wordplays are not within the legitimacy english teaching which leads to the english learners misunderstanding of some simple conversations. however, slang plays a very important role in american daily lives. when we are going to learn them we need to know the background of the relevant slang. slang as a special form of language carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern and etc, and therefore are closely related to culture. consequently, we can know much about culture through studying slang and in turn get better understanding of slang by learning the cultural background behind them. learning american slang could also help us understand american culture farther on the other way round. key words: background; daily life; reflection; american slang; american culture摘 要：在一定程度上语言是文化的标志。另一方面，语言在很大程度上影响文化。从动态角度看，语言和文化相互影响。语言是文化的载体，还是文化的一部分。我们可以从语言中发觉文化的特征以及通过文化来解释语言现象。事实上学习一门外语是和学习其文化是相辅相成的。美国英语中有很多富有幽默、生动、一语双关的词汇并被称为俚语。然而这些双关语并不在常规教学当中出现。因而导致很多英语学习者们遇到俚语时一头雾水。但是俚语在美国人的日常生活中起着非常重要的角色。我们学习俚语时需要掌握相关背景知识来有效的学习俚语。俚语作为一种特殊的语言其本身承载着很多文化的信息，例如：历史，地理，信仰，风俗，国人的心理状况，思维方式等等。因此，对于美国俚语的学习还可以进一步了解美国文化。关键词：背景；日常生活；影射；美国俚语；美国文化i. introductionany country or nation has its own language, which consists of formal language and informal language. in order to succeed in communication, we need to know both of them well. slang are the words or phrases that are vivid, humorous, and homonymous; but it is not within the legitimacy language teaching. therefore, to foreign language learners, there are always many misunderstandings when some native speakers use slang. whereupon, knowing the cultural context of slang is the shortcut of grasping the way of understanding and using them.american english is as popular as hollywood movies among the young. its beautiful pronunciation and intonation attract many beginners to imitate it. however, to most english learners, they can not understand some black humor or conversations in the movies. communication with americans becomes an annoying obstacle. the main problem is that people from non-english speaking countries always misunderstand or misuse a great amount of american slang. in fact, students cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs. (national standards in foreign language education project, 1996.p.27). in a word, slang become a lion in the way to learn english. to learn slang effectively, it is helpful to know the background of relevant slang. learning american slang could also help us understand american peoples thinking style, daily life, and customs and beliefs on the other way round. for we chinese students, american slang are a stumbling block. it is very possible that they often not only feel at a loss in understanding conversations because of a key slang but also misuse slang. in this paper, i am going to make a study of the relationship between slang and culture and throw some light on the learning of slang. this paper will introduce the background of some american slang in different aspects of american peoples daily life so as to reflect the american culture behind slang in my eye. i do hope it will help the readers acquire the way of learning slang and realize american culture through the analysis of some background of slang in all aspects. ii. definitions of slang and culture1. different definitions of slang.many linguists and lexicographers have been trying to define the term slang. most of them made similar remarks to e.g. eric partridge, namely that slang might be beyond definition, but that it is “incapable of precise definition” (1988:69). in the following paragraphs different definitions of slang shall be cited and examined critically.an early definition can be found in the encyclopedia britannica from 1926, in which slang is defined as in what is now the usual sense, a general name for the class of words, more or less artificial or affected i origin or use, which are not recognized as belonging to the standard vocabulary of the language into which they have been introduced, but have an extensive currency in some section of society either as a means of concealing secrets or as intentionally undignified substitutes for those modes of expression that are employed by persons who value themselves on propriety of speech the above definition names two major points. firstly, it says that slang is in the “words” or the “vocabulary”. a linguist may describe this as belonging to the lexicon. secondly, it states that the slang words do not belong to the standard variety of language spoken in the larger society. later on, in the same page it claims that “ slang is a conscious offence against some conventional standard of propriety.” this statement clearly shows a generally prescriptive view towards language which was common at the beginning of the 20th century, but this part of the definition also expresses that a speaker who uses slang does so intentionally. an eminent authority in the field of slang and the author of a dictionary of slang and unconventional english is eric partridge, who dedicated many years of his life to the collection of slang expressions. he did not give his own definition for it. he prefers to and seems to favor the definition in websters third new international dictionary which describes slang as:a non-standard vocabulary composed of words and senses characterized primarily by connotations of extreme informality composed typically of coinages or arbitrarily changed words, clipped or shortened forms, extravagant, forced or facetious figures of speech, or verbal noveltiesthe webster definition also hints at two points that are related to each other: the creative and rapid change. normally, language change is a very slow process. however, it is due to its restriction to a relatively small speech community or to its creativity. slang alter more quickly.2. different definitions of culturethere are more than 250 definitions concerning culture. culture can be interpreted in both broad and narrow sense. according to tyler (british, one eminent anthropologist, ), culture covers a wide range of fields, including politics, ideology, values and other capabilities acquired by human beings. culture is defined briefly as the totality of beliefs and practices of a society; nothing is of greater strategic importance than the language through which its beliefs are expressed and transmitted and by which most interaction of its members takes place. (nida, 1991).culture is the customs and beliefs, art, way of life and social organization of a particular country or group. ( hu wenzhong, 2000)since “no language can exist unless it is stepped in the context of culture which does not have at its center, the structure of the natural language” (uspensky, 1978). from the above definitions we could see that culture, in a broad sense, is an integrated pattern of human behavior that includes thoughts, communications, languages, practices, beliefs, values, customs, courtesies, rituals, manners of interacting and roles, relationships and expected behaviors of a racial, ethnic, religious or social group. as culture is so inclusive, it permeates virtually every aspect of human life and influences predominantly peoples behavior, including linguistic behavior.iii. the relationship between slang and culture.according to tyler (british, one eminent anthropologist, ), culture covers a wide range of fields, including politics, ideology, values and other capabilities acquired by human beings. language is an important part of culture. language in some sense is the reflection of culture. in different cultures, we may find different expressions of the same concept. it is the culture divergence that accounts for the difference in language. language thus serves as a carrier of culture. slang is an important part of language and culture of a society. they have close relationship within themselves.1. language and culturecommunication is the imparting or interchanging of thoughts、opinion、information and so on. in order to succeed in communication with others, we must first know the relationship between language and culture. language is an important part of culture. language in some sense is the reflection of culture. some social scientists regard language as a keystone of culture. language reflects culture. without language, culture would not be possible. on the other hand, language is influenced and shaped by culture. in the broadest sense, language is the symbolic representation of a people, and it comprises their historical and cultural backgrounds as well as the approach to life and their ways of living and thinking. in different cultures, we may find different expressions of the same concept. it is the culture divergence that accounts for the differences in language. language thus serves as a carrier of culture. thats to say, language and culture interact. they cant be separated from each other. this means that language is not only part of how we define culture, but it also reflects culture. language and culture intrinsically depend on each other; they have evolved through the history. their mutual interdependence can find proof in the rise of civilization, the development of writing and human communication. 2. slang and cultureslang in different languages is derived from different origins, also demonstrate cultural differences. different languages and different groups of people may have different slang, owing to different living environments, social conventions and literature tradition, etc. so, slang as part of language are naturally indispensable to culture. english abounds in slang which are characterized by their colorful and thought-provoking expressions, involving history, religion, social customs etc. slang as a special form of language exist in both of them and carry a large amount of cultural information such as history, geography, religion, custom, nationality psychology, thought pattern and etc, and therefore are closely related to culture. they are the heritage of history and product of cultural evolvement. consequently, we can know much about culture through studying slang and in turn get better understanding of slang by learning the cultural background behind them. thus, language learners cannot truly master the language until they have also mastered the cultural contexts in which the language occurs, especially for slang. slang is an important part of the language as well as culture of a society. it could also inflect a nations thinking style and life style in a vivid way through analyzing frequently used and informal words and phrases. iv. the origins of slangamerica and britain are the countries that have christianity and hebraism as their cultural background. most slang come from this background and carry rich religious elements. getting to the roots of slang, we can find that they originated from literary masterpieces, the bible, greek and roman mythologies, ancient fables, historic events, anecdotes, customs, seafaring, agriculture, daily life, animal habitual behaviors, etc, which involved every aspect of life. that is why slang are hard to understand. the essential point of studying slang well is to realize them through the background of the traditional culture, thought pattern, geography, religion, and custom. 1. literary masterpiecesmany popular western literary masterpieces have the classic words, phrases and sentences that attract people greatly. they are shaped to evolve the hidden meaning.for example: screw up ones courage: to overcome ones fear; to stop oneself from being afraid.man friday: a faithful and willing servant, ready to turn his hand to anything. (the young savage found by robinson crusoe on a friday, and kept as his servant and companion on the desert island.) 2. the bibleit is a firm concept of western people that god created people. they think that god is omnipotent and sacred. god, christ, devil, adam and some educational segments of the stories in the bible are passed down because of peoples favor or even some historical and political causes. for example:much cry and little wool: a proverbial saying expressing the meaning of contempt or derision for one who promises great things but never fulfils the promises. (originally the proverb ran, “great cry and little wool, as the devil said when he sheared the hogs”; and it appears in this form in the ancient mystery of david and abigail, in which nabal is represented as shearing his sleep, and the devil imitates the act by “shearing a hog”).turn the other cheek: to take no action against the person who has hurt or harmed one, esp. to allow him to do it again. (do not resist one who is evil. but if any one strikes you on the right cheek, turn to him the other alsonew testament)3. greek and roman mythologiesmythologies are ancient stories that are based on popular beliefs or that explain natural or historical events because the people of the primeval society were scared of the nature and longed for the nice future.midas touch: the excellent skill of making money. (midas was a legendary king of phrygia who requested the gods that everything he touched might be turned into gold. his request was granted, but as his food became gold the moment he touched it, he prayed the gods to take their favor back. he was then ordered to bathe in the pactolus, and the river ever after rolled over golden sands. )pandoras box: a prolific source of troubles. (in greek mythology a box containing all the evils of mankind and given by zeus to the mythological pandora, who opened it against the command of zeus, thus, all the evils flew forth and they have ever since continued to afflict the world, only hope remained in the bottom; something that produces many unforeseen difficulties.)4. ancient fablesthough ancient fable stories are short and refined, they teach people many philosophic and educational theories while being narrated. they are also parts of the kindergarten education of chinese children. it is obvious that they are popular even among chinese people. they, especially aesops fables are the favorites of chinese people. for example:naked truth: the plain, unvarnished truth; the truth without trimmings. (the fable tells that truth and falsehood went bathing; falsehood came first out of the water, and dressed herself in truths garments. truth, unwilling to take those of falsehood, went naked.) sour grapes: disparage something that is beyond ones reach. (the allusion is to aesops well-known fable of the fox, which tried in vain to get at some grapes, but when he found they were beyond his reach, he went away saying, “i see they are sour.”)5. historic affairsmeet ones waterloo: be finally and crushingly defeated in a contest, esp. after a period of success. (waterloo is a place where napoleon was ultimately beaten by wellington and blucher in 1815.)water gate: scandals disclosed to the world.6. anecdotesman for all seasons: the person who is erudite and adaptable.mickey mouse: small, insignificant, or worthless person. (from the name of a mouse-like cartoon character created by walt disney 1901-1966, us cartoonist)7. customsindian file: one after the other, singly. (the american indians, when they go on an expedition, march one by one. the one behind carefully steps in the footprints of the one before. the last man of the file is supposed to clear the footprints. thus, neither the track nor the number of invaders can be traced.) a feather in ones cap: an honor; something to be proud of. (the allusion is to the very general custom in asia and among the american indian